This invention relates in general to tools, and in particular to a tool for opening and closing a valve on gas cylinders, such as portable medical oxygen tanks (also referred to as oxygen cylinders).
Oxygen tanks enable consumers with breathing disorders to receive a measured dosage of oxygen. Portable oxygen tanks enable the patient to travel beyond a hospital, home, or care facility by carrying a supply or source of oxygen with them. Portable oxygen tanks come in various sizes. Some are small hand held devices while others are larger and often times mounted on a wheeled cart for ease of moving the oxygen tank. Typically, these portable oxygen tanks include a gas cylinder, a regulator, a flow control valve, a flow meter, a pressure gauge, and a cannula. The gas cylinders are usually light weight steel or aluminum cylindrical containers for storing the compressed gas (such as oxygen). Because a typical oxygen consumer may have multiple health concerns that cause them to be weak and not have good hand dexterity, they are often unable to independently use the oxygen as ordered by a physician.
Some conventional oxygen tanks may come equipped with a wheel or handle attached to a valve stem of a regulator assembly such that a tool is not required, while other tanks may not be provided with a handle and thus require the use of a tool to turn the valve stem. For those tanks with a handle, the valve stem is opened and closed by manually grasping the handle and turning the stem about its longitudinal axis in the appropriate rotational direction to open or close the valve. The small handles are often difficult to manually operate especially for patients having limited strength and motion with their hands. Often times new or recently charged oxygen tanks have been tightly closed to avoid any leakage prior to using the oxygen tanks. These can be difficult to initially open when the consumer uses the tank for the first time. Another problem that sometimes occurs is that the consumer will not fully close the valve because of its difficult operation, thereby permitting the oxygen to escape even though the consumer believes that they have closed the tank. Some other gas cylinders are simply supplied with a bare valve stem. A tool is generally required to grasp and turn the valve stem. The valve stems of the gas cylinders typically have a square or rectangular cross section. Sometimes consumers will incorrectly use a conventional wrench or other tool and damage the valve stem and/or the regulator assembly.
It is therefore desirable to have a tool or wrench which is easily operable to assist the consumer in operating a variety of portable oxygen tanks.